


Silence Speaks

by LotharWinchester



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death, Eventual Smut, Fahrenheit - Freeform, Implied Relationships, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Stuttering, Stuttering Sole Survivor, fallout 3 content, implied MacCready/Maxson, my german is bad forgive me, significant height difference, songs from 1950's-1975ish
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-05-11 22:09:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5643676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LotharWinchester/pseuds/LotharWinchester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After escaping Vault 111, two survivors pick up the task of bringing Shaun back to Sanctuary. Unbeknownst to one another.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Travel No More

**Author's Note:**

> Couple of things I'd like to point out
> 
> -discliamer: I don't own Fallout, this is just a fanfic
> 
> \- i'm typing on a borrowed computer since mine broke while I was writing my "Give me the Truth" series. 
> 
> -I have played Fallout 4 once since I don't own a Next gen console. please forgive me for any significant mistakes and please point them out.
> 
> \- This fic does indeed have two survivors from the vault
> 
> \- I may or may not include implied MacCready/Maxson [aka 2MM] relationship (literally the worst ship i've gotten into from this fandom)
> 
> \- one survivor has difficulties with hearing and speech. (which i decided to put in because I've been having a hard time with my hearing lately and i've stuttered [not as noticeably] my whole life due to social anxiety.)

After traveling for five months together, MacCready had hoped he’d never have to do this.  His boss’ orders taunted his thoughts as he began to run from their battle with Deathclaws and super mutants. Her dead weight smacked against his rifle and back as blood streamed down his neck. 

 His boss who had killed the Gunners after him without turning back, who had offered him a place in Sanctuary Hills for Duncan now barely clung to life as he disobeyed her direct orders.

It had been a month in when she'd brought it up.

“If something happens to me Mac, leave me and run.”  MacCready had grown used to the robotic voice that spoke from the half Pip-Boy sized screen on her right wrist. When he’d started to protest, she signed each letter individually, “R-U-N.” 

Her hazel hair tickled the back of his neck as he choked down his tears. She’d come from a vault, two hundred years out of her own time, to save her squad leader’s son. She still held onto the hope she’d find her husband and not an Institute Synth through it all. And she wanted him to let her die? 

Fuc- screw that. 

MacCready huffed as he continued to run in the direction of Goodneighbor.  Hancock liked her enough that MacCready was sure he would help. His sweaty palms slid down her dirty vault jumpsuit to the point where he had to stop to readjust her. He frustratedly growled low in his throat as his injured right leg protested and buckled under their combined weight. 

He wouldn’t give up, not like this.

* * *

Elder Arthur Maxson stood watch over his squad as the continued to explore the quadrant. They had been in the Commonwealth for two weeks and still hadn’t gained the basic foothold he’d strived for.  The hissing from Paladin Danse’s Power Armor brought him out of his brooding. 

“Report Paladin.” His frustration didn’t bleed into his voice over the comms. He’d ordered all of the squads to wear their Power Armor Helms after one of the Knights suffered from radiation poisoning and a Paladin from a laser rifle wound to their ear.  He himself was no exception to this rule. 

Danse’s voice crackled across the comms. “Elder Maxson, Sir.” He turned to stand beside the younger man, “The information was correct. There was a pack of super mutants in the area, Sir.” 

“Was, Paladin?”  Maxson reacalled his Paladin’s description of the man who helped Danse’s unit at the Cambridge police station and slipped out without a trace or true sense of the man. Other than the fact he fought like a soldier and left no survivors. A potential threat or contender for a serious ally to the Brotherhood.

“They were taken out by two civilian’s, Sir.” Danse stepped back to give Arthur a view of the returning squad members, “They were both injured in the attack, one severely...” the Paladin paused to let the light blue and gold sink into Arthur’s field of vision, “One of the civilian’s is a vault dweller in possession of pre war tech, Sir.” 

“Dissmissed, Paladin.” Maxson was relieved that Danse refrained from  mentioning the slight shock in his voice. Brief flashes of the Lone Wanderer flitted through his head as he stood before the Knight that held the vault dweller in his arms. 

 _It’s not her._ Relief and regret flooded through him as he turned to face the woman’s companion. He leaned against Danse and bit back a deep sigh at the stimpack that was injected into his injured leg soon after. 

“Please help her.” Maxson briefly glanced over the man’s thin frame, tattered coat, and hat that had two bullets tucked into the outside strap. “Please, i’m willing to share any supplies and information I have.” 

“Elder Maxson, Sir?” One of the newer Knights, whose name he couldn’t remember, waited with his mingun drawn behind the small civilian. 

“We will hail the vertibird,” Arthur watched as the Knight shifted his gun to reach for his signal, “and we will bring the civilians to Knight-Captain Cade.” 


	2. Milo's Awakening

The first thing he did was take a deep breath. Images of running to the vault rapidly bombarded his mind as he struggled to stand. Nothing made sense.

_Justice?, where is she?_

His muscles, sore and slow from disuse struggled to keep his six foot seven frame standing. Stale air from Vault 111 filled his lungs as he tried to catch his breath.  

“N..Nate?.. Shaun?” His deep voice strained as soon as he uttered their names. His heterochromic eyes looked down at the cryopods in front of him and braced his left hand on the cold glass. 

He remembered. He remembered how Nate held his son close as Nora slid into her cryopod first. How hesitant she was to do so until Nate’s reassuring smile soothed her.  His blood cooled at the thought of their deaths. 

_How long has it been?_

The raven haired man’s gun calloused hands fiddled with the holotags around his neck as he opened his best friend’s pod. He thumbed some of the ice away from the blocky letters of his name. 

_Milo West._

Nate’s eyes stared blankly back at him once he managed to opened the pod’s door with the emergency release.  fingertips dragged down his  former squad leader’s eyelids out of respect. 

Milo did the same for Nate’s wife.  The bombshell of a woman that took them all in, war wounds and all, no questions asked.  

_She would’ve been a great lawyer._

At last, Milo swiveled on his heels to face his wife’s cryopod.  His heart sank  into his stomach. 

‘Critical error’ flashed on the command screen as he repeatedly smashed the emergency escape button to her pod. 

“Please… Please don’t..” his pleas stuck in his throat as he dug his fingers into the door of the pod. He had no memory of her pod being opened like Nate and Nora.  No memory of her being shot…

Justice Harper-West looked just as she had when he’d last seen her.  Her shaved head rested peacefully against the bottom of the cryopod with a soft smile on her lips. All of her scars on proud display instead of hidden underneath her blonde wig and layers of foundation. 

Milo’s Pip- Boy  chose that moment to start to function and cast a green glow on the command screen  keypad underneath his left hand. His blue and green eyes stopped at the oxygen reading before the screen faded out. Zero. 

Once a vision in his Power Armor fighting for freedom, Milo sunk to his knees as he banged one last time on the cryopod. He fiddled with the silver band on his finger. He’d lost everything. 


	3. Sometimes We need a little Help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had some things come up in my personal life that have made writing difficult for me so all of my fanfics may take a while to update.
> 
> story note:  
> any text in the story like this: 'example text' is Justice signing. I originally had it like this '-example text-' for this chapter's first draft to distinguish it from speech. if you'd like me to change it to a different system please leave a comment.

“Relax, Boss.” Justice stopped feeling around for her communicator and allowed Maccready to gently push her back down onto the cold bed. “We’re safe.”

She shifted slightly and raised both of her hands in Mac’s direction, ‘What happened?’

“The Brotherhood found us.” Mac’s dislike of the Brotherhood of Steel was never hidden from her. “They’ve agreed to help us out in exchange for looking at your communicator and holotapes.”  Before she could get a word in edge wise, Maccready signed it’s okay before speaking, “Boss, I made them promise to give everything back to you. You need to rest.”  He made sure her brown eyes were focused on him before he brought his hand to his mouth and away, signing Thank you for nearly the thousandth time since he met her.

* * *

Milo groaned as he rubbed his palms against his eyes.  It had been two weeks since he’d saved Nick and murdered Kellog. He ran one of his calloused hands down the side of his face and over his beard. He’d barely remembered that Hancock had brought someone in to trim his beard and hair since he looked like “A fuckin Jet trippin, Gunner killin, maniac son of a bitch” according to several of the Third Rail patrons. 

Hancock was the only one who knew. About everything. How he was a Vault dweller, his dead wife, and his current mission to bring Shaun back at any cost. The mayor also knew that he’d hadn’t indulged in chems in well over 200 years.  He’d done enough damage without them.

Milo slowly sat up and shoved the used Jet inhalers and Mentants containers off of Hancock’s bedside table into the makeshift trash bin beside the bed. He’d seen Dick Jefferson use both while their squad was stationed in Alaska and what had happened to the scrawny twenty year old afterwards.  He shook his head and lit up a cigarette instead.

Throughout each drag and long exhale, Milo tried not to think of the empty spot next to him on his loaned mattress. He tried not to think about Justice’s morning ritual of her tiny hands massaging his shoulders before wrapping her arms around him.  How he’d do the same fucking thing he’s doing now except with a small smile on his face.  He failed miserably.

It was Hancock’s bed after all, he’d insisted Milo take it when he’d figured out the Vaultie had no caps or place to stay. He’d been astonished at first that Milo had no idea about current events and factions until he’d finally caved to the ghoul.

He was most likely outside, judging by the increased volume from the streets outside the Old Statehouse, giving another speech to the people of Goodneighbor.

Milo held the cigarette between his fingers until it burned his skin. It knocked him out of his thoughts and made him finally force himself to shove his legs into his vault jumpsuit and stand to face the day ahead of him.

* * *

Arthur stopped short at the sight of Maccready staring straight at him. The Mercenary had moved his chair to face the infirmary’s doorway to assess for potential allies and threats inside the Brotherhood and to protect Justice in case they decided to go against their agreement with him.

“Proctor Quinlan and Ingram will be done with her communicator shortly.”  Maccready merely nodded and tried to comprehend that he was two years older than the taller, more muscular bearded man standing before him.  ‘She was awake?”

Maccready shifted to stretch in his seat. “Yes, but she needed more rest.” He was itching for a cigarette or a shot. He’d take anything at this point, since he wasn’t leaving Justice’s side. _She’s been through enough for me._

“If you won’t tell Quinlan about how you met,” Arthur slid his hand into his battle coat and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He lit one and jumpstarted the other for Maccready. “Will you tell me?”

Both men stared at the thin woman on the only available cot. Arthur had pulled a chair beside Maccready and made sure not to obstruct his view of the doorway.  The sat in an uneasy silence until Arthur held out an ashtray.

“If I tell you about her,” Maccready frowned as he stared at her exposed right wrist. His leg hurt like a son of a bitch but he swallowed it down. “Will you help her?”

Arthur exhaled the last bit of smoke towards the ceiling and watched Maccready’s movements. Banging from feet on the Prydwen floors and other general noises from the airship filled the air between them. Cade would be back soon to check on her progress and Arthur wanted to get _something_ … anything about the two Commonwealth travelers. He was still trying to discern the true nature of their relationship and their potential use in the Brotherhood. 

“Yes.”


	4. Adjustments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> disclaimer: i don't own Fallout, Bethesda does. 
> 
> I wrote this chapter over at least five times so I hope you all like it. .////.

“Now I don’t say this often….” Hancock’s raspy voice finally reached Milo’s ears after three shots. “Ever,” Milo chuckled darkly as Charlie refilled his shot glass, “But you need to slow down.”

“With what?” He knew that Hancock fully deserved to call him out on his bullshit.

“Your trips to the Memory Den.”  Hancock exhaled to keep his cool. For once, he wasn’t that high. “You’ve given Amari enough caps to keep her up ‘n running for months.”

“I can do what I want with my caps, John.” Milo tapped the top of the cigarette box in his hand. _God Damn it John, Leave it. Let me go._ “I earned them.” _It’s the only way I can see their faces._

When Charlie floated by to refill his glass for the fifth time, Hancock shook his head and turned to face Milo. “It’ll rip you apart, revisiting your memories so often.”

 _Fuck. Don’t say it._ Milo let the box fall to the dirty counter and tensed as Hancock rested a hand on each of Milo’s broad shoulders.

“You aren’t the only one who has lost someone. Lost everything.”  The mayor’s ghoulified hands clenched the material of Milo’s vault suit in his bony fingers.

“It was a mistake telling you.” Milo hissed through his clenched teeth and stood. “Get the fuck off of me.”

Hancock stood his ground as his hands slipped lower on Milo’s torso.  “Why? So you can blow more caps in the Den?”  Milo’s coarse hands roughly fisted the front of Hancock’s frock coat and ignored the sound of several chairs scraping along the floor. “Or do you want to wallow in memories while the Institute has Nate’s kid?” The former soldier watched as his left hand slid to Hancock’s throat. “Do you even want to get him back?”

He’d hit a nerve. The slight glimpse of faith in Milo’s eyes cooled.

A small bag of caps landed on the counter near Milo’s glass and the taller man let go of Hancock’s throat.  He stared down each person who held a gun on him to protect their mayor.

“That should cover me, Charlie.” Hancock swallowed thickly once he was released and waved his hand to the others.  Milo turned away from him after he grabbed his box of cigarettes off the counter and glared down the men in his path until they stepped aside

* * *

MacCready stared at the two empty packs of cigarettes on the floor by his feet. Arthur continued to size him up as he smoked, not bothering to move away from Justice’s bedside.

“We haven’t cleared the area.” Arthur finally spoke as he stubbed his cigarette out in the ashtray Cade had pointedly put next to his dinner tray. “And we haven’t made contact with the settlers of Sanctuary. Our scouts were busy clearing out Concord.”

MacCready chuckled and took a fresh pear off of Arthur’s tray, “Concord is almost always full of raiders or super mutants.”  It had been a while since he’d tasted fresh food and had clean water to drink, “Preston Garvey and the original settlers of Sanctuary were trapped there until Justice came and brought them there.” He shook his head at the thought of Sanctuary’s initial defenses, “She only told them about her living there because Preston offered the General position to her.” At Arthur’s surprised grunt, he continued, “She fought off a death claw in rusted power armor and a broken mini gun to save them. Safe to say Garvey was impressed.”

“She was a pre-war soldier,” Arthur shrugged and took a fresh pear of his own.

“He didn’t know that at the time.” Mac eyed her returned communicator to inspect it for damage, “She never tells anyone. Just talks about her husband and his squad leader’s son.”

“The Institute is the main reason for the Brotherhood’s presence in the Commonwealth.” Arthur’s fist clenched beside him and out of MacCready’s line of sight

* * *

Milo made his way through the State house and quickly filled up his bags with his meager belongings. All of his weapons had been returned to him upon exiting the Third Rail which he was immensely grateful for. He could barely stand seeing anything that reminded him of Goodneighbor’s mayor right now.

As he turned to leave, he realized he still had Hancock’s flag in his pocket. After he checked his ammo supply for his .357  Milo reholstered the gun and left the flag on his remade borrowed bed.

Fahrenheit stepped to the side and let him pass. Word traveled fast in Goodneighbor and she tried not to think of how Hancock would react to his not so secret crush leaving the most personal gift she’d ever seen him dole out without bothering to actually give it back to him face to face. 

“He cares, you know.”  She stared at the vault dweller’s back as he gripped the doorknob.

Milo shook his head as he yanked the door open, “Keep your father out of trouble, Fahr.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep seeing this post on tumblr about how Fahrenheit is Hancock's daughter and i'm now on that Headcanon.


	5. Strength and the God of War

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> disclaimer: i don't own fallout, bethesda does. 
> 
> thank you to those who have stuck with the story and for the new readers.
> 
> note: I left the german translation in the end note. if you would like them to be in the story beside the text please tell me in a comment and i'll switch it.

“How did you learn to communicate with her?” Arthur asked as he skimmed through the transcripts of Justice’s holotapes. “Judging by the brief outline I’ve seen here, this language seems hard to learn without a teacher.”

“Believe me,” MacCready chuckled as he put out his last cigarette, “I fu- screwed up plenty of times and got us into loads of trouble. Here, let me see.”

Arthur handed the stack of papers over with slight trepidation.  He watched as the sniper thumbed over the titles of each tape and stopped at one. “This one…” he paused as the one page transcript was illuminated by the infirmary lights, “This is a holotape meant for Nate’s wife.”

Before Arthur could comment, MacCready continued on his quest for a certain transcript and grunted in success when he did. “If you find this holotape in your system, it has an in depth explanation of how to sign the alphabet.” He nodded and slid the script entitled _Hi Honey!_ to the bottom of the stack then handed Arthur the other sheet of paper. “I learned by listening to that holotape about a thousand times and, when we had time, she would show me.”  He stopped to pull out two more sheets and shift his injured leg before continuing, “most of the time I use my index finger and trace letters onto her palm if I’m close enough and there’s enough time.”

“What about those?” Arthur motioned to the two he’d removed from the pile and placed the rest of the stack on Cade’s desk.

MacCready remained unusually silent and shifted his pant leg up far enough to inject his latest stimpack dose. Part of his leg had been splinted and he would need crutches for at least a few days under Cade’s orders. “They’re transcripts of holotapes for her husband.” Arthur noticed the shift in his demeanor and in the light of his eyes. “They’re for him if she dies.” He exhaled sharply and clenched the papers in his hand. “They detail everything we’ve done up until you’ve found us and…” He shook his head and placed his hat in his lap, “and what to do with Shaun and everything she felt was left unsaid between them.”

* * *

 

Milo pat Dogmeat’s head as the German Shepherd brought back a box of ammo in his mouth.

“Good boy.” He chuckled lowly and slid the box in his bag.  Dogmeat woofed and curled slightly in his lap with his head resting on Milo’s knees.  Kellog’s house in Diamond city  felt like a tomb and Milo hated to stay there. He let Dogmeat sniff around for a while until he picked up the man’s scent.

“Can you find the boy, buddy?”  He scratched behind the dog’s ears and stood.  Dogmeat pawed the door and led the way out of Diamond City.

Most of the trail seemed familiar to his hunt for Kellog. Dogmeat had stopped several times to sniff patches of dirt or crumbled concrete. Milo knew it would be tough because the trail was almost a week old.

“It’s alright, buddy.” He sighed as he made his way back towards the direction of Sanctuary. “Let’s go home.”

* * *

 

With MacCready asleep again, Arthur skimmed through the holotape transcripts until he hit the bottom section.  He sighed and stretched, something he desperately needed hours ago. He ordered an Initiate to gather the tapes and have them sent to his office.

When the tapes arrived, he routed around and listened to _Hi Honey!_ first. He frowned as he heard the voice of a woman and the gurgling of a baby. The sound of the child caused an all too familiar pain in his chest.

_“Ares..”_

* * *

Home ended up being more than he’d bargained for.

The usual sentry didn’t greet him as he approached. In fact, no one was on watch.

At his hip, Milo had a Chinese officer’s sword which he drew in one hand at the sound of screaming.

“Garvey!” His voice echoed as he slammed his free hand into the gates. “Garvey it’s me, open up!”

The doors cracked long enough to see something lumbering at him at a high rate of speed.  His jaw clenched as he readied himself for a fight. Dogmeat growled beside him, hackles raised as the doors flew all the way open.

A lone Yao Guai ran down the main street of Sanctuary, the settlers from Concord running behind Garvey to chase it towards the gates.

“Mögest Du ewig in der Hölle schmoren.”  He grunted as he angled the sword in his hand. As soon as the radioactive bear drew close enough, he pierced the thick fur of its neck and slammed down with all of his might.

The bear writhed in place as Dogmeat snarled and Milo drew a pistol to end its suffering.

Preston stared at the dead bear in shock as Milo wiped the blood off of his hands and face onto the armor pads that were now loosely hanging from his vault suit.

“If you don’t mind Garvey,” He chuckled as he righted himself, “I’d like to rest for a bit.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Mögest Du ewig in der Hölle schmoren!” May you forever braise in hell. cursing in German is interesting and oddly vague.


	6. The Pain of Losing You

Arthur sat at his terminal, transcripts forgotten. He’d dug out his trunk from under his bed and held the scraps of the Lone Wanderer’s vault suit to his nose. Her scent had faded in the last few months, making him change his original routine of taking it out bi weekly.

He still couldn’t fathom why he did it. She had left him, taking the two things that mattered most in his life away. Ares, who looked like a spitting image of his father, would never know him and that chilled his aching heart.

 _“He’ll never end up like you. I won’t let it happen.”_ Her words still stung. _“You’ve changed Arthur. You’re not the same person I’ve known for ten years.”_   He could still remember the stutter in her breath as she turned away from him to their son. _“You’re not the man I married.”_

But by the Creator he still loved her. The woman who taught him how to use Power Armor, his first kiss, and his first time three years ago in the Capital.  She was perfect and he knew he was a lucky man to be hers. 

She left in the middle of the night with nothing but supplies for Ares, then three months old, and whatever supplies she could fit in her  Power Armor pack.  All of her Father’s holotape were stacked neatly in Arthur’s trunk along with her diary entries about Project Purity. He stared down at his now one of his most prized possessions. A photograph of their wedding at the Citadel. The western Elders had had a fit when they realized that she wasn’t straight from the Brotherhood material but eased off once the story of her valiant attempts to save Sarah Lyons and Lyons Pride came out. He remembered her recording them as he rubbed her shoulders in his room. She’d sat in his chair and recorded her entire life story from escaping the vault to their wedding.

_“I promise to be with you, forever in Steel, Arthur Maxson”_

Arthur twirled his silver wedding ring he’d forged around his finger, “Forever in Steel…”

* * *

Sanctuary had barely settled down two days later before Milo was set with another task.

“There is a woman at the gate wanting to speak with you.” Preston frowned as Milo tossed on a shirt and strapped armor plating to it. “She has a child with her.”

“Let her in.”

It took longer than he expected for someone to meet up with him at his prewar home.

“Sorry Milo, she’s extremely ill.” Sturges stepped to his open doorway, “She’s in the infirmary. Preston says she might not make it.”

By the time they both got down to the main house and into the infirmary, the woman’s condition had worsened. Judging from the Power Armor set outside, she was Brotherhood material. A group no one  in Sanctuary wanted to piss off.

“How is she?” Milo leaned down to see Jun and Mama Murphy sewing skin around the woman’s stomach and legs closed.

“If the infection doesn’t kill her, the pain might.”  Mama frowned as she leaned down to wash her hands. “She kept begging us to give this holotape to her husband.”  She sighed heavily as she looked up at Milo, “I don’t know who he is without listening to the tape. I would if I had the sight…”

“No, I’m sorry Mama.” Milo was firm as he took the tape off the table and stared at the old woman. “The sight is not worth your life.”

“At least take the poor child with you.” Mama motioned with her head to the sleeping child on the floor. “Poor kid’s going to need us until we can return him to his father.”

 


End file.
